Ryan Day rarely posts on social media or goes out of his way to respond to criticism, but a retweet hours after last year’s national championship game made it clear he had heard the noise after Ohio State’s 2024 loss to Michigan.
On the afternoon following Ohio State’s win over Notre Dame in last year’s College Football Playoff final, Day reposted a tweet by Ohio State director of player development C.J. Barnett that sent a blunt message to the Buckeyes’ critics, a more profane version of the phrase “What are they going to say now?”
Fuck they gone say now??? #gobucks #legends
— CJ Barnett (@Barnett_OSU) January 21, 2025
Well, there was still one thing the metaphorical “they” could say about Day. But not anymore.
Twelve months ago, Day heard fans use the same word that started that Barnett tweet before his own name as he walked out of Ohio Stadium following Ohio State’s 13-10 loss to Michigan. The Buckeyes’ fourth straight loss to their rival had many in Columbus ready to run him out of town. Even though he had won 63 of his 73 games as Ohio State’s head coach, he became known as the coach who couldn’t beat Michigan.
Day won his way off the hot seat – and earned a seven-year, $87.5 million contract that made him the second-highest-paid coach in college football – by leading the Buckeyes to four College Football Playoff wins, culminating with a national championship. But even that didn’t erase the one big black mark on his résumé, as Ohio State coaches are measured by their record against Michigan as much as anything else.
On Saturday, though, Day proved he could beat Michigan as he led Ohio State to a 27-9 victory over the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. And the Buckeyes won it in the way Day’s teams were accused of being unable to win games. While there were plenty of fireworks through the air, including a 35-yard touchdown pass from Julian Sayin to Jeremiah Smith and a 50-yard touchdown pass from Sayin to Carnell Tate, the Buckeyes put the game away by running the ball and stifling their opponent on defense, showing plenty of old-fashioned toughness on a cold, snowy day in Ann Arbor.
With his first victory in The Game since his first season as Ohio State’s head coach in 2019, Day checked the final box needed to firmly establish himself as one of college football’s elite coaches.
“Coach Day is an amazing leader. He's an amazing coach. I think a lot of people had stuff to say about this game when it comes to him, and I think he proved the point today,” said Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles.
Saturday’s win over Michigan completed an undefeated regular season for the Buckeyes, the third Ohio State has had in seven seasons under Day. It extended their winning streak dating back to last year’s College Football Playoff to 16 games, the longest winning streak in college football. It was Day’s ninth straight win over a ranked opponent, including eight consecutive wins against top-15 teams. It brings Day’s overall record as Ohio State’s head coach to an exceptional 82-10; his winning percentage (89.1%) would be the best in college football history if he had the minimum 10 years required as a head coach to qualify for the NCAA record.
The Michigan game was Day’s kryptonite for the past four years, and it prevented him from accomplishing even more. It kept Ohio State out of the Big Ten Championship Game from 2021-24, and it knocked the Buckeyes out of the CFP in 2021 and 2023. It would have kept the Buckeyes out of the CFP again last year if the playoff hadn’t expanded to 12 teams.
But that’s all in the past now. Day proved he was the right coach for Ohio State with last year’s national championship run, and he solidified that with Saturday’s win in Ann Arbor. The Buckeyes now have a chance to win their first Big Ten championship since Day’s first two years as head coach, and will almost certainly have a top-four seed in the CFP no matter what happens next week in Indianapolis.
Day admitted after the game that he had comments in mind that he could have said in his postgame press conference as a response to all the criticisms he and the Buckeyes heard over the past four years. But in perhaps one of the biggest shows of why Day is the right man to lead the Buckeyes, he chose to keep those comments to himself and focus on the joy of winning this year’s game.
“I’ve thought, as you can imagine, over the years, after winning this game, what I’d say in this press conference. And I’m gonna save all those comments, because I think the best thing to do is win with humility, and that’s what we’re gonna do,” Day said. “I think that speaks to our program, it speaks to what it means to be a Buckeye. We wanted to take this rivalry game back this year. The way that our guys played certainly spoke to that, and they played with great passion and great physicality.”
Day didn’t gloat on himself after the game, instead apologizing once more for the Buckeyes’ failures against Michigan over the past four years.
“What hurt the last couple years more than anything, and you could see it in my face the last couple years, you just feel like you're letting everybody down,” Day said. “And that's just not a good feeling. So you work like hell just to make sure that you do everything you can to get your guys prepared, and that's all you can do. And that's exactly what happened here. It was a buildup all year, and man, our guys really captured the moment and played great.”
All of that said, Day deserves to be met with just as much recognition now as he was met with criticism 364 days ago.
If Ohio State wins its second straight national championship, Day will have a strong case for being the best coach in college football, full stop. But no matter what happens from here, Day has already accomplished arguably his most important goal for the 2025 season, checking the box he needed to check – the most important box for an Ohio State coach in the eyes of many Buckeye fans – to silence his remaining doubters and prove he’s one of the best coaches in college football.
